You can find the Carex Daylight Plus here: amzn.to/2NoSgtY But I was reading Dogen's Shobogenzo, so maybe that's what made my mornings enjoyable: amzn.to/2Ze9HQB
A trick that I do with this type light is I put mine behind the curtains in my living room. The light itself didn't do much for me other than light up the room more, but having it behind a curtain made me feel like the days were longer because it looked like it was daylight outside. For me, just the darkness from the outside and the lights inside not as bright is what was making me tired at 6:30pm lol. Now though, I'm less tired because that light "Coming through the windows" is bright and it helps.
Hey, I just wanted to say thank you for your amazing work. I am grateful that you raise awareness for mental health and OCD (especially harm OCD which I feel is often misunderstood). You are such an inspiration. The fact that you've recovered from OCD and it made you a stronger person gives me so much hope and strength to keep working on my mental health. Thank you very much!
My dad bought me a sad light nearly 10 years ago when I was in high school, and I thought it was useless at the time. Didn’t even give it a shot. I think I’m gonna go dig it out of my dads basement & give it a shot
I wake up at 4:20. On the northern west coast. The winters are brutal. Hardly any sun. I sit in front of my lamp 16-20” away. It 100000% works and increases energy levels. Not the same model you tested. But it works.
Mark: Shares useful information on overcoming serious mental illness challenges, sustaining recovery, and proactively building great mental fitness. The Internet: TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT!
After weeks of disrupted sleep patterns (sleeping from 6h to 14h), I tried a 9.8"x7" SAD lamp from Amazon for 20-30 minutes a day. There were two main effects I noticed: 1. Sleepiness a couple of hours before the usual 5AM, firstly at 3AM, and then at 1AM. I guess this might be a success case? 2. Dry eyes on the days I used the lamp. I don't know if I might be receiving more than 10k LUX or if the UV light isn't properly filtered out. One important remark: I used the lamp differently than you, Mark. I did not actively try to wake up earlier than usual before using the lamp. I woke up at my usual time, and used the lamp in the first waking hour in the hopes that my circadian rhythm was shortened, and sleepiness came earlier.
If you're sleeping from 6am to 2pm, it sounds like there are some other issues here. And do you mean you're using the light at 2pm in the afternoon? As well, for a small light like that, using it for 20-30 minutes, it's unlikely that it's having an effect. The research on this stuff is still inconclusive and even when there is an effect, it's with much larger lights for longer periods of time.
Hi, I find out that MY DRIVE to follow passive ruminations about whatever I bumped into in my environment or just random thoughts my brain throws at me, Is More powerful than anything else in my real life.. For example, if I wanted to do A task, I'm so much pulled toward engaging in the thoughts more than doing desired task.. Any tips? Thank you
It could help to look at these stories you're telling yourself about yourself. Seeing this as some special "DRIVE" is just normal human experience. Of course people want to play video games instead of study, or they want to eat the entire cake instead of choosing something more nourishing. What immediately jumps out in your question is this judging it as somehow unique or special. As well, you're describing it as being in control of you. This is very common and it's useful to recognize that we are humans, not puppets. It helps tremendously to shift the locus of control back to you. Here is a video that explains more: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VIizvSl0Ty4.html
Hi mark. Interesting video and good points. I'd be interested in your thoughts on how recovery from mental health stuff works when dealing with actual extended physical illness? I have been dealing with pretty severe ibs sympyoms for the past year and I feel that my need to try and research/ understand ways of managing the condition has "delayed" my recovery time, because I've been able to put less time into just living my life. Where is the balance when you actually have an ongoing physical health condition?
IBS and anxiety/OCD issues often go together. I didn't even realize I was struggling with gut issues until after I recovered and I no longer had them anymore. I just thought it was normal! And now that I do mental health work, it's just extremely common to come across this pair, so I find it very useful not to approach them as separate. Having a lot of physical symptoms helped me see that I had to learn skills for interacting with unwanted experiences, not just unwanted emotional or cognitive experiences, but ALL experiences. Working with an experienced professional could be a useful way to get started on making changes. What you're experiencing is very common so if you work with somebody that's experienced with recovery, I'd expect them to be familiar with navigating this.
@@everybodyhasabrain cheers Mark. That definitely is true, however it feels as if my gut issues have not shifted as I've made progress on my mental health and like the gut issues, in a sense are holding me back way more than say ocd / anxious thinking. The sfomach issues are really bad to the point I canf eat a lot of common foods, I get a lot of daily pain and so forth. But I do see your point about how I could approach it within the same framework of an "unwanted experience" i have to find ways of coping with.
Like im talking my gut issues have caused excruciating pain this year at times, have made me more housebound than I otherwise desired and generally caused extremely unpleasant symptoms in general
thank you for this post i also bought the lamp it didnt do anything for me either the only thing it did was get me to sit still for 30 minutes lol thats a good thing because I have a hard time sitting and reading so it served a purpose i sat and read lol
It is so rare that people pause and make space for themselves. Just noticing that using a lamp like this requires that, makes me satisfied that plays a role in any effect people might see from the lamps. The great things is, people can start making time for themselves today!
Nice vid and hyperlapse. I did try one of the 'dawn simulation' lights for a couple of winters since i was very lethargic in the mornings. I can't say i noticed any difference. What I found interesting was that there was a run of 4 or 5 years when I found I was most anxious in mid to late winter. Was this due to a lack of sun or something else? I couldn't say. These lamps also lack both UV and IR wavelengths so they don't reproduce the potential positive effects UV has on the neuroendocrine system and vitamin D synthesis, nor the warmth provided by IR light. Maybe, that is why I found them so artificial and ineffective. You just can't reproduce the sun in your bedroom, as cool as that might be.
Well you wouldn't want to be hit with a constant ray of UV or infrared light would you. Plus these are best suited to be used after you've awakened to get some chemical boost inside of you through your retina's, not to replace actual sun light which you should be getting when the sun is out midday, depending on mostly winter months
Have you heard of red light panels that use several different length of red & near infrared....they are impressive & I live in an area with abundant day time sun ...but your right about the use of the daylight panels good for eyesight ....
I'm autistic and suffer from seasonal affective disorder. I would like to check some sad lamps with a spectrosope to see if they radiate all the colours of the rainbow in equal amounts which the brain recognises as sunlight. I could buy an expensive one but need to know its colour spectrum which is never specified.
I bought one of them off of Amazon awhile back (yes, one of the tiny ones with tons of questionable positive reviews lol). I'm bipolar and I noticed I was getting hypomanic on the days I used it, so I stopped, but watching this made me realize that maybe the hypomania was actually caused by waking up earlier/being sleep deprived? Sleep deprivation has been shown to help with depression too, so I wonder if they controlled for that.
Researchers have found that can be a risk for the lights used in clinical settings. But the tiny ones with the questionable reviews on Amazon don't seem to meet the technical specs where researchers find an effect. It could still be that but it could also be other things.
Youve got good posture, I personally dislike bright white lights, I have a space heater I use in winter that has orangey/red glow, campfire vibes are relaxing
Yes, it might help to just call it all "brain stuff". It's easy to get caught up in compulsions if we're checking and judging and categorizing brain stuff. It doesn't matter if it's a word, a sentence, an image, a feeling, a song, a dream, an alpaca, etc.
Hi mark, I have asked a few other questions on this channel now. I started ruminating a couple days ago, and like you told, it is like the machine. It wants more certainty. So i try to accept any uncertainty and leave the thought and not react, but i cant do it right now with this topic. So there is this girl i think is pretty, she asked for my number, and now i'm obsessing.. what to do. Thanks
@@everybodyhasabrain mark, I just realised, why would you let ocd take over your life? change clothes, etc. etc. 'for a feeling'. Cause ocd can happen at every bit of your daily actions, right? (this isn't meant to look for certainty, i just realised this!)
Interesting video. It's something we've considered buying but decided against. After watching the video we will probably hold off. Also such a minefield shopping for anything on Amazon, ebay or even online now. So many fake reviews, misleading titles etc! The birds need a UV light at some point though as one for them is proven to have an impact!
It made me incredibly hyper stimulated, which ended up in anxiety and rumination and after 2 weeks of terrible sleep (3-4 hours a night) i threw in the towel. Not for everyone unfortunately
Aw dont feel bad can confirm surprised like the opposite of sad iget this very issue from the same. I dread summers for this reason and have to manage insomnia. You may have sensory processing issue not necessarily autism. Common on the spectrum we all different. I get migraines and insomnia 4 hours through summer need blinds and crap mood. You probably need 30 minutes but I can't stand light and sun myself. I get migraines and insomnia. Green filter in glasses helps. Hope this helps
@@soniczforever5470 Its weird because I can tolerate bright sunlight without any issues, and loud sounds as well, I dont have any autism, but I do have ADD which is closely related to sensory processing I guess
@@everybodyhasabrain I think its mostly related to my anxiety and unhealthy ways of coping with physical stimulation. I have the same reaction with all kinds of stimulating items (caffeine for example).
@@Ryy22 I had lots of compulsions around physical stimuli, too. It was very useful to cut them out and learn new ways of interacting with physical experiences
@@everybodyhasabrain hmm so what you're saying is that i react to these things with compulsions. So i should stop the compulsion. I think though this is really hard if i'm honest, harder that any other situation compulsion i've had. I'm gonna try to ignore my brain while talking to girls. (And not making the ignoring a compulsion ;))
